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Published: September 21st 2008
Day0 - Getting to Córdoba I don't know how I got the idea of home-staying for my vacation. In any case, before I realized, I was googling for homestay programs. After giving much thoughts, I finally applied for a program in Córdoba, Argentina. I've always wanted to go to Argentina, as my friends have known. But this was meant-to-be. One day, I got a reply from the coordinator telling me that since I was the 30,000th applicant, that they would cover the fee!!!
The day finally came! The trip was something else though. The flight from SFO was delayed for ~2hrs but that was just the beginning. At least I was going to make the connection in LAX. But after rushing to my connection, I found out the the flight to Santiago, Chile was delayed for 6hrs!! That..was hopeless. There was no way to make the connection in Santiago. Options: 1) take another flight the next day 2) change the connection to Santiago -Buenos Aires airport#1 - B.A airport#2 - Córdoba. Clear choice; #1. LAN put us at Sheraton LAX. Immediately, I thought of capitalizing on the debcle to catch up with LA peeps but it was a holiday weekend
and nobody was in town. I ended up cramming the last-minute Spanish at the hotel 😞. LAN staff was kind though. They had been to or came from Córdoba and the lady called my host family to let them know my situation. I couldn't even say "my flight was delayed" in Spanish...ha ha.
The flight to Santiago on LAN was pleasant. Although my entertainment screen kept freezing, it had all the Latin music I like and they serve wine with dinner - a nice touch! The plane from Santiago flew over Andes. The sight was breath-taking with a range of snow-capped mountain!! And at last, I was in Córdoba!!
Day1 - Spanish overload Today was really an Español overload. I mean talk about smoking brain. I arrived in Córdoba at 9:30am, took a taxi to the house. At the house, I finally met my host mother, Nelida. She briefly showed me around the house - large with 5 bedrooms. Then it was time for me to go to the school, as I was already late. The school is ~30min walk, not bad. I got to the school ~11am and bam, a placement exam. I was tired, gross and
GRIDO
They are everywhere...made frequent visits for Dulce de Leche ice cream with DdL salsa :Dhungry. I wasn't excited about this, to say the least. Shortly after, the test was evaluated and I was put in to a class with Federico. At that moment, I had to throw English out the window. Only Spanish was spoken in the class and during the break. Boy, the first hour was intense. I wasn't in the right mode. Everything sounded like a music. All 6 of my classmates spoke Spanish really well.
That afternoon, the school organized a quick walking tour of the city. Today was really smokey because of the wild fire in the mountains. Ashes were falling everywhere. After the tour, a few other students and I who started today had a make-up session. By the end of that, I mean my brain was just OD'ed...felt like it ran of gas. When I got home, I couldn't even squeeze out any word to say how the day went. We had homemade pasta for dinner. At 9p, housemates and I hitched a taxi to meet up with other students at a restaurant near parque Sarmiento. Came back home ~midnight and pretty much just past out as it ad been >1day since I last laid down on
a bed.
Day2 - Recovering from Spanish overload Chop chop at 7am, my alarm went off and the 2nd day began. Sat down for 2 medialunas and coffee and walked to school with my housemates. It was a windy day - and that meant windows banging, trashes everwhere on the street and electricity going out. The class went ok, better than yesterday. I was more with it, although I felt lost at times. I dunno, I must have over-achieved on the placement exam. It seems that I'm actually in the intermediate class. No wonder my classmates speak well! Again, the session ended at 1p and a makeup session at 2p. I had lunch at Genius with the girls. The makeup session was more lax and it ended ~4p. From there, I went to Plaza San Martín for photo-ops. But the city center was super-crowded. Must have been the end of work hour?! In any case, I had my first ice cream in Argentina. Flavor? Of course, Dulce de leche, mmm. Made it back home just before dark at 6:30, did some homework and had milanesa for dinner. For Postre, Gary, Christina and I went to the neighborhood cafe for
Cuesta Blanca
The "work" part of the field trip... Fernet & Coke (THE drink around here...).
Day3 - Cuesta Blanca Today, Federico took us on a field trip to Cuesta Blanca. The class and 2 of his friends caught a 9am bus for ~1hr ride. It was a long day. We hiked pretty much all day until late afternoon with a few stops for reading and learning. Cuesta Blanca had some nice scenaries with a river, although it was dry, somewhat reminding me of the East Bay. No wonder wild fires are popping up all around Córdoba. Visiting Estancias are questionable at this point because of that. In any case, it was nice hanging out with the classsmates and taking lots of pics. By the time I got home, it was a bit past 8p. I was pretty wiped out because of the sun and lack of sleep and hunger. That day, Nelida whipped up delicious chicken roast with potato. I dowsed it with a few glasses of wine. Retreated to my room to finish up my HW and passed out.
Day4 - Frozen and Churrascoed Business as usual now - 2 medialunas & coffee, 30min walk to school for 9am start. I still get lost in
Churrasco!
...as big as the face, as thick as... the discussion but definitely picking up more... Class ended at 1p and 4 of us went to lunch at Juan Griegos. Cerveza y entrecotte. Then Christina and I spent the next hour at the school to do homework to be ready for a full evening. At 4:30p, we went on a city tour. It was nice excep that it was freezing 😞. The entire day was like 40F and it was more like a torture than anything else. Nonetheless, I am glad that I had an opporrtunity to see Córdoba beyond walking distance. After the tour, all I wanted was warmth - went back home and cuddled in bed to finish up the homework. At 9:30p, 20 some students met at La Nieta 'e la Pancha, a nice restaurant in the city. With Gary's recommendation, I got Churrasco relleno con queso y verduras, that is as big as my face and as thick as my thumb, not messing around!!! Washed it down with Framboa and Shiraz. Shiraz that Bogart recommended was really fragrant 😄. Good times.
Day5 - It's Friday! It's Friday already! Today was still freezing 😞. In the class, besides more grammer, we watched an Argentinean movie
- liked it. I really needed to run some errands this afternoon...to buy warm cloth, ATM, internet etc. Since I was still digesting last night's friggin'churrasco as-big-as-my-face, I skipped lunch. I went around downtown in search of warm cloth. On the way home, I found this awesome alfajore boutique or wholesale place. It's a tiny tiny place that sells...alfajores, nada más. I bought one to try and boy, I've never had anything like it. It made my day right there. I also stopped by Nuevo Centro to scope out the grocery store.
A note on my naive culturall encounter: On the way back, I saw 2 horse carriages...not those touristy kind but carrying trash. They were sharing road with cars. Actually, horses seemed to be everywhere especially in the mountains. It's like cows in the Bay Area. But these horse carriages were common. It seemed like they collected cardboard boxes etc.
Worked on a bit of the homework, dined with the housemates (milanesa with mushed potato), and took a power nap to charge up for the night. At 11:30p, we went to Patio Olmos to meet up with other people to go to a club. Good times. Left
La Cumbrecita
From the bridge. The town begins across the bridge. ~3a although the place was still going strong...
Day6 - La Cumbrecita Some of us signed up to go to a tour on La Cumbrecita, a town in the mountain south-west to Córdoba. I was ready with thicker layer of cloths I bought yesterday. But it looked like it wasn't going to be so bad. After breakfast, the tour van picked us up at the school, picked up other people around town, then off we went south. After a brief stop in Alta Gracia and a road-side craf shop, the van made its way to La Cumbrecita. It's a town of 600, tucked away in the mountain. The van went through gravel road for a while to get there. The town was established by Swiss/German immigrants. It was pretty touristy though...somewhat like Solvang. We had a loooong lunch at the top of the hill. The specialties were trout and German fares. Since the town itself was too much like a Toontown to my taste, I made a special request to stop for panoramic photo shots on the way back. There were nice scenaries along the way and I would have much rather seen the nature 😊. Guadalupe, a charming
La Cumbrecita
View on the way to La Cumbrecita. Thank you, Guadalupe!! tour guide, and the driver came through for me. She gave me a hard time because I was dosing off...ha ha.
The 2nd destination was Villa del General Belgrano. It's another Swiss/German town selling alfajores and chcolates all over town. The town holds annual Oktoberfest and chocolate fest. Ya, and the Grido didn't have Dulce de Leche ice cream flavor...outrageous as Guadalupe agreed. But being a tourist, I still found something new there - alfajore ~1inch thick!! I had to ask and try. There are many varieties of alfajores but this one re-wrote the rule. It was eggy backed-schiffon-cake like crust sandwidhing italian merengue-ish fluffy thing. "Muy rico" as the guy at the store told me 😊.
Bus headed back to Córdoba ~6p and go home ~8p. It was pizza at home. Nelida has frozen pizza (of course homemade) ready to go, in case of these last minutes. She just loaded them with cremoso and was ready in no time. Cremoso is super fresh cheese - I'd say somewhere between cream cheeze and mozerella. It's spreadable like brie. Especially with beer that Gary got, I couldn't resist falling asleep at 10:30p...
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